I don't know about you, but when I hear the word "Peignoir" I instantly think of Doris Day twirling in one of her frilly two piece chiffon nightgown and robe ensembles. Let's be real, no one could rock a peignoir quite like Doris!

But Doris was certainly not the first to make the peignoir a household name - Jean Harlow, Lucille Ball, Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr, Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn,  Elizabeth Taylor, Ginger Rogers, and other Silver Screen actresses made the peignoir synonymous with Hollywood glamour.

But what exactly is a peignoir? Well, that's a very good question and one that even various dictionaries on the web have a hard time deciding how how to answer. Here are just a few of the definitions we found in our quick search:

But, the origin of the word Peignoir is something most everyone agrees on;

The original Middle French word, peignouoir means "garment worn over the shoulders while combing the hair." From the word peigner which means"to comb the hair." 

So in the earlier days, a peignoir was literally a comfortable, loose fitting garment a woman would put on while she combed her hair.  She would do this in the privacy of her bedroom so she would have only a nightgown or undergarments underneath. This private moment allowed women to relax from the confinement of corsets.  The earlier peignoirs were purely practical but as time went on, they became more luxurious.

1812 Peignoir (Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection)

1880 Muslin Hungarian Peignoir (Metropolitan Museum of Art)